Women's lacrosse is the first varsity sport added by K-College since women's golf was added in 1991 and after competing as a club team last year, the Hornets crashed the Division III and Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association scene as a varsity squad.

As the program endures some early ups and downs, a 2-0 start to this season and a good work ethic from her players has Ward believing the Hornets will eventually be a force to be reckoned with.

"We have our ups and downs and we've played some tough competition in our first year to get our girls ready and get them some experience, but it was really rewarding to get two wins right out of the gate," Ward said. "It showed how much the work the girls did in the offseason paid off. It was nice getting compliments from other schools after we played them."

Ward, a Farmington Hills native, previously helped start a lacrosse program at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., before joining the staff at Adrian, which went 40-12 during her time there from 2008-11.

K-College, which has plans to field a men's varsity lacrosse team in 2015, sees its women's team take a 3-6 overall record into the final stretch of the MIAA season. The top four teams make the league tournament and the Hornets have an outside shot as they are in a tie for sixth place and take a 1-2 MIAA record into the final six regular season games.

K-College is scheduled to host Defiance on Monday at 7 p.m.

Whether or not the Hornets make the postseason this year, Ward seems to be confident they will be there in the future. The Hornets will graduate five seniors after this season but will return their top seven point scorers, who are all freshmen.

Nicole Huff

Freshman midfielder Nicole Huff, the team's second-leading scorer with 14 points (13 goals, 1 assist) said it's been fun being a part of the process of building a program.

"It's been great getting to grow with the team," said Huff, who played prep lacrosse at Mattawan High School. "We're all working towards the same goal. It's not like we had something to build off. We're building off of each other. We're building our own traditions. We're doing everything ourselves."

Ward said the Hornets get the element of toughness from Huff, who was a defensive player at Mattawan.

"She brings a lot of toughness," Ward said. "She's a physically gifted athlete. She's really coming along as a midfielder for us. She's learning the offensive side of the game on the fly. Every game she gets more and more confident. She's a good leader in her own way. It's nice to bring a local player in and have success right away."

Huff said a neat aspect this season has been the strong chemistry on the team. Ward said that has been an important element as the program continues to grow.

"The girls have meshed really well between the upperclassmen and underclassmen," Ward said. "It's been kind of a dream team in that sense. We haven't had any issues with maybe some more experienced players treating the others any different."